Page 107 of Magic's Rise

When I glare, he laughs. “You witches are all alike. Liars, every one of you, trying to make yourself appear more powerful than you are.”

“If you wanted me dead, you’d have already done it.” Fear creeps into my voice. “So, why are you doing this?”

“Silver Hollow is a gift and a prison.” He twirls my wand between his fingers. “I can’t leave without going moon mad, but it doesn’t have to be that way.”

“You did a good job misdirecting us.” I sit on the bottom of my cage and dangle my legs through the bars, my toes inches from the ground. “We thought we were looking for a human.”

Jacob snorts. “Well, I did hire someone, but the idiot turned out to be useless. He let you make it all the way here.”

“He tried to stab me,” I say.

“And he failed.” Jacob tsks under his breath. “He should have killed you after he ran you off the road, but he left me to clean up his mistake.”

“Charming,” I mutter. “I can’t believe Kaela fell for your nice guy act.”

“Everyone fell for it.” He steps closer, though remains out of kicking range. “Or don’t you remember inviting me into the Alpha’s house, because you thought I was a safe little wolf who couldn’t shift without the full moon?”

My head throbs with the reminder of how much I failed to assess his true colors.

“Tell me, Rowe.” Jacob cocks his head to the side. “Do you like being a witch?”

Like isn’t the word I’d use. Sure, there are perks, but it’s also been a giant pain in my ass. “Honestly, the movies make it look cooler than it is in real life.”

“See, I knew you’d understand!” Jacob points my wand at me. “Neither of us asked for this. We were born to it. And we’re supposed to be the lucky ones. But sometimes, you’ve gotta break a few rules to find your own freedom.”

“By destroying the town and hurting innocent people?” I challenge, my heart pounding.

He shrugs. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“And what made you desperate?” I clasp my hands. “Tell me your origin story. Why does Jacob want to destroy Silver Hollow?”

His face twists with anger. “You’re mocking me.”

“I like a good story.” I rest my throbbing head against the bars. “You didn’t wake up one day and want to blow down your home. What brought us to this point? Was it love?”

His expression softens, and for a moment, he looks almost vulnerable. “There was a girl. We were together throughout all of high school, but she always struggled. Her mom was human, and her dad was one of the werewolves here, but the curse skipped her. She should have had a normal life, but instead, she didn’t fit in anywhere. Not at the pack house and not among the humans in town.”

I nod in understanding. “What was her name?”

“Hailey.” A smile curls his lips. “We were in love, but she couldn’t take the isolation anymore, and she knew that if we got married and had kids, they’d have the same risk of not being werewolves. She didn’t want our children to grow up like she did, so she left Silver Hollow.”

The anger returns, and coals burn to life in his pupils. “I went after her, of course, but by then, she’d forgotten me! We were together for six years, and she couldn’t remember who I was! She thought I was a dangerous stalker!”

“She didn’t mean to forget you,” I whisper, my heart aching for what happened to the young lovers.

His hands curl into fists, and I fear he might break my wand in his anguish. “I begged her to come back with me, told her it would fix things, but she wouldn’t listen to me, and I couldn’t remain outside Silver Hollow. At the first full moon, I would’ve killed her.”

He grits his teeth in frustration. “Everyone knows there’s a way around the curse. We’ve all seen the Alpha and his bond mates shift without the full moon. But they’re selfish and keep the secret for themselves. If the barrier is gone, though, he’ll have to share with the rest of us, or risk losing everything.”

“Would Hailey want you to do all this?” I ask, keeping my tone gentle. “Would she want you to hurt people?”

“She doesn’t know what she’d want,” he snarls at me. “She doesn’t remember who she was.”

“Love doesn’t justify destroying an entire town and hurting innocent people!” I snap, my patience wearing out.

“I’m not doing this for love. What Hailey and I had can never be fixed. Even if I dragged her back here, she would leave again.” Jacob takes a step closer. “But I can stop what happened to us from happening to anyone else.”

“You’re trying to destroy the only safe place that exists for werewolves.” I grip the bars so tightly that my knuckles hurt. “If you don’t like it, just leave, but don’t ruin it for the other people who live here.”

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